Why doesn't Jean have an XMan name?
by Irihi Safaia
Summary: The title won't hit for a few chapters, but this is an A/U fic. ABANDONED
1. Default Chapter

X-Men, Tym-fic Prolog  
  
They were fighting again, right over my head. I was slumped on the couch, trying to watch the news. They were talking about the Mutant Registration Act.  
  
"With Senator Kelly's change of heart," the anchor said before my mother's voice rose above his.  
  
"Are you listening to me?!" she yelled at my father, who was playing his latest computer game. "We're broke and you're playing a fucking game!"  
  
I wished for the zillionth time that Sally had taken me with her when she'd run away years ago. I wished that she'd offered to take me where ever she'd gone.  
  
The only reason I was staying now was the new baby, only six months old. My sweet, adorable, little brother. I longed to run, but I couldn't just leave poor Jake here. Not alone with those two.  
  
"You asshole!" my mother's voice caught my attention again and I began flipping channels. "Go get another job and quit fucking around with that stupid computer!"  
  
My father finally turned around to look at her. "Honey, I know things are tight," he said calmly. I loved him for putting up with my mom, but how long would it last? "Why don't you go take a nap?" With that, his headphones went back on and his mind vanished back into his game.  
  
Muttering, she got up just as Jake began to cry. She swore and rushed out of the room towards the nursery. I suddenly got a weird chill down my spine. I slapped the power button on the television just as my mom started yelling again.  
  
"Shut up!" she screamed over Jake's wailing. "I said, SHUT UP!! You miserable little brat, SHUT UP!!"  
  
The crying stopped suddenly, so did the yelling. Something in me turned into brittle ice. I leapt up and ran from the room into the hallway and skidded to a halt at the nursery's doorway.  
  
My mom stood frozen, stiffly holding her arms in front of her. Her face was pale and her eyes wide. Jake hung limply in her hands, his tiny neck bulged to one side.  
  
"No," I whispered as I took in the scene before me. "No... NO!" I screamed, reaching towards the lifeless body of my only reason to stay.  
  
That ice shattered inside of me, freeing something that both scared me and assured me.  
  
Jake's body wrenched out of my mother's hands and flew into mine.  
  
I touched my white lips to his cooling forehead and I felt his residual baby thoughts of wet and fear. I looked at her and something in my green eyes must have scared her. She backed up into the wall behind her, her thoughts invading my mind.  
  
::Mutant! She's a fucking MUTANT, just like...::  
  
"Shut up, you bitch," I hissed, cradling Jake against my chest as his body began to stiffen. "You just killed Jake, my only reason to put up with you. I'm taking him and leaving."  
  
She squeaked, then slid down the wall in a faint.  
  
I gently wrapped Jake's tiny body in a blanket and carried his corpse to my room. Holding him in one arm, I packed my backpack with some jeans, tees, underwear, and all the money I'd saved up. I shrugged my full-length, black leather trench coat over my blue jeans and purple tee. Placing the pack on my back, I headed out, pausing long enough in my parents' room to grab up the $300 emergency fund that dad kept hidden under the loose board.  
  
With $878 to my name, I headed out to find a place of peace to bury the body of my beloved little brother. Then I would find Sally and tell her that she'd had a little brother that she'd never know.  



	2. What next?

Tym-fic Chapter 1: What next?  
  
~~~~~ Somewhere in Canada, a graveyard ~~~~~  
  
I stood over the tiny grave that I had talked a country priest into giving my brother four years ago.  
  
::Why, Jake?:: I thought with tears in my eyes. ::Why did you have to die? Why did that BITCH have to kill you?::  
  
I was currently in Canada, the closest place away from home. I had been living in Michigan, but that was THEN. Now, I was wandering. I wasn't much past the border, and was planning on heading towards New York. I'd been searching all those years for Sally, and still nothing.  
  
After the Mutant Registration Act was pulled off the ballot, I'd heard of Xavier's school for Gifted Children. If that didn't scream 'Mutant School', I didn't know what did. Not to mention the X-Men that ran around and saved mutant and non-mutant children from horrible families.  
  
I felt that familiar mind brush against the shields that he had helped me build.  
  
::Tym,:: he thought at me.  
  
::Yes?:: I sent back hesitantly, I wasn't used to talking mind-to-mind over this distance. It hurt a bit. I'd found out that touch killed all my shields if I wasn't paying attention. He'd said that I was a 'Physical Telepath', whatever that meant.  
  
::Will you be coming here, soon?:: he asked gently. I could tell he was old just through the contact. He just had that sense of oldness around him.  
  
::I told you that it was a last resort,:: I sent at him. ::But,:: and I hesitated for a moment. ::But the time has definitely come for last resorts. I HAVE to find Sally and tell her about Jake, before I forget about him.:: Tears sparkled in my contact-colored purple eyes.  
  
::You know that you can come here, I'm sure that they'll help you find your Sally.::  
  
::Thank you,:: I sent as he fell out of contact.  
  
I turned away from the grave with a graceful sweep of my once too long trench coat. I'd grown an inch or two since I'd run away at seventeen. I'd dyed my hair black and put on purple contacts, just to hide.  
  
I swung a black jean clad leg over my Harley and kicked the kickstand up. It was finally time to head into New York. I would go via the still rushing Niagara Falls crossing.  
  
I swore that I would find Sally, swore that I'd find a home, and swore that I'd never let anyone hurt me again. I still ached from the death of Jake, still fought with nightmares that told me if only I'd been there sooner, I could have saved him.  
  
I started my bike after placing my full-face helmet on, then roared out of the tiny graveyard, my coat flying out behind me in a way that pulled my shoulders. But the pain was good and the bruises would fade. I ignored it and kept going.  
  
~~~~~ Two Days Later, in Westchester, New York ~~~~~~~  
  
I stood outside of the Xavier School's gates while holding my bike. My mind was fighting with my instincts. Would I find answers here? Would these people be scared of me? Would they tell me to keep moving?  
  
::He promised that they'd help,:: I thought.  
  
At least I'd have a warm meal and maybe a bed for the night. The growl of my stomach decided me and I pressed the small black bell on the speaker box beside the gate.  
  
There was a short silence before a man's voice came through at the same moment a mind brushed my shields, a familiar mind. "May I help you?" he asked as the mind vanished.  
  
"Um, yeah," I said slowly. "I want to apply to the school."  
  
"Ah," he said. "I'll send someone out to you in a moment."  
  
I nodded numbly as the speaker went dead. Moments later, a young woman with white hair and brown skin jumped down the front steps and came down the long drive at a dead run. She skidded to a halt with a smile.  
  
"Hi!" the white-haired woman said through the game. "My name is Aurora, or Storm. What's yours?" She took a key out and unlocked the gate, pulling it open so I could slip through.  
  
"I'm..." I paused, thinking about my name. With a sigh, I force it out. "I'm called Tym."  
  
"Time?" Storm frowns at me.  
  
"Close enough," is all I say as I walk quickly towards the school. "I want to talk with the owner... Xavier?"  
  
Storm paused, then caught up with me. "He's in a meeting with some of the students, he said you could meet him tomorrow. He also said to take you straight to the kitchen, then to the dorms. There're still some empty rooms."  
  
I nodded and let her take the lead, simply looking around at the grounds. The school was a huge building in the center of an even bigger lot of land. Ivy traced up the sides of the building. In each of the downstairs windows, faces peered out. Very few were obviously mutants, like the girl with the whiskers and lightly pointed ears too far up the sides of her head.  
  
With a sigh, we entered the hug mansion-turned-school and Storm offered to take my black leather trench coat. I declined with a shake of my head.  
  
She shook her head and led the way silently to the kitchen, where she procured me a ham sandwich. We sat down at a table just as other people, every age from twelve to thirty, flowed into the room from various directions.  
  
A group of late teen, early twenty, boys sat at the end of our table. They kept glancing at me and whispering.  
  
Without realizing it, I used my powers to help carry sound further along our table. I immediately heard their comments and regretted my actions.  
  
"I bet she's just got a weak mutation."  
"Yeah! Like 'Super Hearing'" *snicker*  
"And she's wearing that there coat to hid her skin-tight, revealing, wanna-be-a-superheroine outfit" *more laughter and snickers*  
"I wonder if I'll catch her alone later..." *louder laughter as the others poke the last speaker knowingly.*  
  
I looked Storm in the eyes, saw her wince and try to silently apologize for the kids at the end of the table. I shook my head sadly and squashed the power, stopping the hurtful, nasty words from reaching my ears. However, they still rang in my head.  
  
I pushed back from the table, my sandwich untouched. "I'm very tired, Storm," I muttered. "Can you show me where I'm being put up?"  
  
"Sure, Time," she said, which caused me to wince at the slight mispronunciation. I said nothing, however, as she led me out of the dinning hall and up the wide flight of stairs to the third floor. From there, she led me to a corner room that over looked a pool house.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
End of Chapter 1. I hope you enjoyed this. For those in confusion the colons mean thoughts that are broadcast/sent/received. Tym has a habit of broadcasting her more meaningful thoughts.  
  
Chapter 2: Will Tym find Sally? Who really helped Tym build her shields? (as if you couldn't guess..) And what is different in this alternate universe that I place my story in?  
  
You may just find those answers in my next chapter, you might not. Who knows! Please give me comments/flames/acknowledgement.  



End file.
